“No one can make you serve customers well. That’s because great service is a choice.” — Harvey Mackay

More than a year ago, I decided to hire a taxi from the airport, actually it was one of those new private car services like Uber and Grab (I won’t tell you which one).

When the cab came to pick me up, the first thing I noticed that the car was shiny, waxed, and very clean. The driver came out and I noticed how smartly dressed he was in a short-sleeved, linen work barong, and bagong plantsang black slacks. He looked more like a bank manager, than a driver. He smiled, shook my hand, and greeted me “Magandang tanghali po!”. Without being asked, he carried my luggage and loaded it into his trunk. When I tried to help, he said, “Ako na po, baka pagod kayo sa biyahe.” Before I could recover from this driver’s ultra polite ways, he shut the trunk and quickly went to my side to open the passenger door for me and closed it when I got into the back of his car.

I couldn’t help but smile at my good fortune. “Wow, sige… uhmm. Buko juice na lang,” I said. Monching had a small cooler in the front of his cab and he handed me a cold bottle of buko juice that he had thoughtfully wrapped with some tissue.

I said “thank you” and half-joked, “baka naman may pambara kayo diyan, he he.”

Monching allowed himself a wide grin and explained, “Sir, please take a look at my mission statement at the back of my card as you’re eating your snack.”

“No way this driver has a mission statement!” I thought to myself. True enough at the back of his laminated business card opposite his smiling picture, email, mobile and license plate number it said:

MONCHING’S MISSION STATEMENT:

“To delight my customers and make them feel like they are family, as I bring them to their destinations in the safest, quickest and most comfortable and affordable way possible.”

I was blown away!

But then, Monching wasn’t done yet. There was more! I was beginning to really, really enjoy my trip despite the traffic that I could see was building up towards Makati City.

“Sir, Mr. Roberto, meron po tayong mga pocketbooks, mga magasin (he had current issues of Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Showbiz, Entrepreneur, and Reader’s Digest tucked at the back of the driver’s seat) at Inquirer, Star, at Bulletin.

“Okay na okay!” I remember saying with a slight sigh, wishing all the drivers in the Philippines were like this.

I sent a text to my wife that I had arrived and was on my way home in the nicest cab I’ve ever ridden in. Noticing that my phone was at 15% I then took up Monching on his offer. As he handed me the power bank and an assortment of adaptors, I couldn’t help but ask him a question: